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By Bug... Betrayed
By Bug... Betrayed is a comic book story featuring the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and was produced by Papercutz Comics. It was released on Free Comic Book Day on May 3, 2014. It's set within the episode "White Light, Part 2". Plot The events of this story take place during the episode White Light. Tommy has just become the new White Ranger and has helped his friends defeat Lord Zedd's Scarlet Sentinel. They have also managed to keep their old enemy Rita Repulsa from escaping her Dumpster again. As the story opens, the Rangers are driving out to the desert in Billy's RADBUG so they can send Rita back into space without any civilians seeing. During the drive, Zack reveals that he has gotten a gift for his girlfriend Angela: a pair of walkie-talkies designed after characters from an old children's show she likes. Trini explains to Kimberly that people often like to collect things that remind them of what made them happy, though Kimberly can't quite understand it. As the Rangers get out of the Radbug for a breather, Zack puts the walkie-talkies in the car's trunk next to Rita's Dumpster. Up in the Moon Palace, Lord Zedd is still in disbelief that his Scarlet Sentinel has fallen. Seeing the Rangers in the desert, he gets an idea and uses his power on the Radbug. Suddenly, the car comes to life and begins attempting to ram into the Rangers while claiming that it will no longer stand for being treated like a slave. The Rangers morph and use their Power Weapons to create a ramp that flips the Radbug on its roof and immobilizes it. Zedd throws a grenade down and the Radbug grows in size, plus gains a face made from Zack's walkie-talkies (which also gives Rita a means to complain about all the hassle she's getting put through). Tommy summons the White Tigerzord to deal with the Radbug while the other Rangers form the Thunder Megazord, and he tries to stop it by climbing into the runaway vehicle and driving it with his Tigerzord at the wheel. This only serves to anger the Radbug as it turns into a bipedal monster and ejects its Zord-driving driver. The Thunder Megazord rides the White Tigerzord to catch up to the Radbug as it nears Angel Grove's city limits. Once it gets close, the Megazord jumps onto the Radbug's hood and tears its fuel line out to end the joyride. With the Radbug back to normal, Billy tends to repairs while the other Rangers prepare to send Rita on her trip. Zack also recovers his walkie-talkies, which are perfectly intact, and Kimberly admits that she'll never doubt the value of collectibles again. Notes *The Firebird Thunderzord is colored pink, which also seen when it forms the Thunder Megazord's belt. This is possibly an intentional design choice due to Kimberly being the Pink Ranger. *In the original printed version, Trini gets hit in the leg by the speeding Radbug. In the digital version, she is replaced with Kimberly getting pulled out of the way as the Radbug narrowly misses her. This is likely because of negative reaction to the original panel as Trini's actress died in a car crash. *This ended up being the final Papercutz Power Rangers comic, as their rights expired. *This is also the only Papercutz issue to not be included in the second volume of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Archive, it's place taken by issue #1 of Boom's own MMPR series. As it doesn't include any non-Power Ranger characters (like the Beetelborgs or Masked Rider) and takes place in the TV series' continuity (as opposed to the the 1995 movie's continuity, owned by Fox/Disney and not Saban or Hasbro), it's unknown why it was excluded. **One POSSIBLE theory involves how the Archive is likely created and the above problem with Trini: The Archive seems to be created by scanning the physical books, including Papercutz despite their relative newness. As it stands, the version of "By Bug... Betrayed" featuring Kimberly's near miss never existed as a physical book, leaving the version depicting Trini hit in the leg, with the negative connotations to Thuy Trang. If Boom was concerned about offending fans, it's possible they used that as justification for not including this issue. Errors *When the Rangers talk about Bulk and Skull, Skull is erroneously referred to as Spike, likely due to the writers confusing him with his son from Power Rangers Samurai. **This is corrected in the digital release for one page only. *Jason announces using "Dinosaur Power" when summoning the Thunderzords instead of "Thunderzord Power" like he's supposed to in the point of the show this comic takes place in. *Another error is that the text over the Thunder Megazord formation panels is from the Dino Megazord sequence not the Thunder Megazord version. Category:Mighty Morphin 2 Category:Power Rangers (Papercutz) Category:Comics